Today, a new lawsuit was filed in state court against the Louisiana Department of Health challenging agency regulations on abortion providers pushed through under the Jindal administration in 2015. These regulations are burdensome, medically unnecessary, and if fully enforced, could threaten to close the remaining three clinics in the state.

Tomorrow is Equal Pay Day -- the day when Louisiana's women’s average earnings finally catch up with men’s average earnings from the previous year. Women in Louisiana earn only 68 cents to every dollar a man makes. This is even worse for black women, who earn only 47.8 cents and Latino women, who earn only 50.9 cents. This is unacceptable, and that’s why tomorrow, we are joining advocates nationwide in demanding equal pay.

Louisiana Senator JP Morrell has introduced SB 24 and SB 27 this year that would exempt from state sales tax, tampons, pads, and other feminine hygiene products as well as cloth and disposable diapers size 7 and smaller.

“In seeking to understand this gendered difference in the perception of prisoners, it should be kept in mind that as the prison emerged and evolved as the major form of public punishment, women continued to be routinely subjected to forms of punishment that have not been acknowledged as such…”

April is sexual assault awareness month – a month dedicated to connecting with survivors, raising public awareness, and educating individuals and the community on how to prevent sexual violence. Ending sexual assault is closely connected to protecting reproductive rights. Violence committed against women violates women’s rights, limits women’s freedom, and threatens women’s physical, mental, and reproductive health. Sexual assault awareness is important in our fight to support women’s reproductive health and rights.